A 10-part series that explains all you want to know about how India's EPF turns a slice of your monthly salary into long-term savings, pension, and life insurance.
This will be the first full-year Budget of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government since it came to power for a third consecutive term in July last year.
The need for a manufacturing policy, reining in food inflation and raising investment in the country were among key suggestions given by economists who met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior ministry officials in the first round of pre-Budget consultations on Friday.
'The government, if it deems fit, will incorporate the changes in the Bill, take approval from the Cabinet before moving the bill for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha.'
As many as 2.17 lakh pieces of fake notes of various denominations were detected during 2024-25 compared to 2.23 lakh such notes in the previous year, Parliament was informed on Monday. Of this, highest -- 117,722 pieces -- counterfeit notes of 500 [MG (New) Series] were detected in FY25, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
Notably, US President Donald Trump and his administration have continuously targeted India over its purchase of Russian crude oil. India, on the other hand, has always maintained that India's purchases are based on its domestic needs and economic security.
...on par with oil, power, and defence, and to restrict its storage under foreign control.
The BRICS nations have expressed concern over the proliferation of trade-restrictive actions in the form of 'indiscriminate rising' of tariffs, particularly measures used as a means of 'coercion', cautioning that such practices risk marginalising the Global South countries.
In 2023-2024, 95 scheduled commercial banks received over 10 million complaints from their customers. The process of KYC at many banks has become 'HYC' -- harass your customer, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Since April 4, around 35 importers in India have either not received any shipment of the magnets or have not been granted the import licences by China.
India has opposed the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) proposal to extend fresh loans of USD 2.3 billion to Pakistan, citing concerns that the funds could be misused for financing state-sponsored cross-border terrorism. India abstained from voting at the IMF meeting, expressing concerns about Pakistan's track record and the possibility of debt financing being misused for terrorism. The IMF took note of India's statements and its abstention from the vote. India's opposition comes at a time when military conflict between India and Pakistan has intensified following a terrorist attack in Kashmir.
Simplifying GST rates, removing exemptions, easing disputes, and speeding up refunds can boost investment in India and offer the best reply to Trump's tariffs, observes V S Krishnan, former member, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday participated in a traditional 'halwa' ceremony, marking the final stage for the preparation of Union Budget 2025-26 to be unveiled on February 1 in the Lok Sabha. The ceremony is a customary ritual in which traditional dessert 'halwa' is prepared and served to officials and staff members of the finance ministry who are involved in the preparation of the Budget.
India's goods exports rebounded in July after two months of contraction, with outbound shipments rising 7.3 per cent to $37.24 billion, led by a surge in exports to the United States before the country's reciprocal tariff kicked in and bolstered by a recovery in exports to other key markets.
The government has decided to discontinue the Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) starting from Wednesday in view of the evolving market conditions, the finance ministry said. However, the banks may continue their short term gold deposit schemes (1-3 years), the ministry said in the statement on Tuesday. Till November 2024, approximately 31,164 kilograms of gold have been mobilised under GMS.
The interest rate on these schemes have remained unchanged for over a year now.
We propose an expert group be set up to form a national strategy on digital fraud. This group would bring together skills in financial regulation, security economics, cyber defence, and public communications, and an understanding of the Indian financial and security systems. It should lay the foundations of a coordinated approach by the Indian State in fighting digital fraud, suggest Ajay Shah and Nandkumar Saravade.
New-age stocks to buy: Most new-age stocks have turned out to be wealth destroyers in stock markets, so far, in calendar year 2025. Shares of Ola Electric Mobility, for instance, have plunged nearly 50 per cent in the first half of CY 2025, while those of Swiggy, PB Fintech, Paytm, and Eternal (Zomato) have crashed between 6 per cent and 25 per cent, ACE Equity data shows.
Form ITR-B allows the assessee to claim TDS (tax deducted at source) and TCS (tax collected at source) credit against undisclosed income.
The government on Monday invited applications for the post of chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The current SEBI chairperson Madhavi Puri Buch's three-year term ends on February 28. Buch assumed charge at the helm of Sebi on March 2, 2022.
At a time when the finance ministry is focusing on addressing employee grievances, the number of employees in most public-sector banks (PSBs) has declined over the last three financial years.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sent a judicial request to the United States seeking information from private investigator Michael Hershman, who has claimed to possess crucial details about the Rs 64-crore Bofors bribery scandal of the 1980s. Hershman, the head of the Fairfax Group, had previously expressed his willingness to share information with Indian agencies, alleging that the investigation into the scam was derailed by the then Congress government. The CBI's request comes after previous attempts to obtain information from US authorities yielded no results. This move highlights the continued efforts to uncover the truth behind the decades-old scandal, which has had a significant impact on Indian politics.
The Indian government has introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to ban online games played with money, aiming to curb addiction, money laundering, and financial fraud. The bill also targets advertisements and financial transactions related to such games.
Retirement fund body EPFO on Friday retained an interest rate of 8.25 per cent on employees' provident fund (EPF) deposits for 2024-25, sources said. In February 2024, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had increased the interest rate on EPF marginally to 8.25 per cent for 2023-24, from 8.15 per cent in 2022-23.
A decline in the initiation of the corporate insolvency process last year is spurring most Big Four firms to rethink and rejig their insolvency verticals to focus on business beyond Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), industry experts said. Between the June and December quarter of FY25, the number of insolvency applications initiated by financial creditors went down from 150 to 84.
Delhi Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot on Tuesday said the budget file has been resent to the home ministry for approval, amid a row between the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation and the Centre over the issue.
The Border Security Force (BSF) is set to receive government approval for 16 new battalions, comprising around 17,000 personnel, and two forward headquarters for its western and eastern commands. The move aims to strengthen security along the India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders, respectively. The new battalions and headquarters are part of a larger plan to address evolving security dynamics and challenges in the border regions.
UPI has catapulted India into the forefront on the global digital payments landscape. Working hand in hand, the AePS payments system is making life easy for rural folks, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'To encourage the habit of saving, a portion of the incentive will be kept in a savings instrument of deposit account for a fixed period and can be withdrawn by the employee at a later date.'
The prospect of protracted uncertainties in the global economic landscape not only pose a risk for India's growth outlook in 2025-26, but are also likely to dent the private sector's capital raising and investment plans, the finance ministry averred on Tuesday, cautioning the country's corporates that the era of 'easy pickings' was over.
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
Days before Diwali, the monthly economic review by the finance ministry has highlighted moderation in urban demand, softening consumer sentiments and limited footfall as areas that need to be watched. In its review, released on Monday, the ministry also noted the early signs of artificial intelligence displacing workers, as described in anecdotal reports. The commentary from several large consumer goods companies, including Nestl India, Hindustan Unilever, and ITC, in their recent quarterly earnings, has been around a sluggish urban demand. Rural consumption, however, has mostly seen a revival, the companies pointed out.
'Big Week For #USIndia Law Enforcement Collaboration'
'Both initiatives are welcome moves and we would commit ourselves with focused attention aligned with the national priorities, and pursue our exploration initiatives.'
Outgoing Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Tuesday that restoring inflation-growth balance is the most important task ahead of the central bank. Addressing a press conference on his last day as the central bank chief, Das said his successor will have to navigate the changing world order, effectively deal with cyber threats, and focus on harnessing new technologies.
He will succeed incumbent Rajiv Gauba, who completes his unprecedented five-year term in the top bureaucratic post this month-end.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that India remains committed to making every possible contribution for an early and peaceful solution to the conflict. Zelenskyy sought India's support in limiting Russian energy exports.
It will be the second Budget of the Modi 3.0 government and eighth straight Budget for Nirmala Sitharaman, rare in Indian polity.
'The government is actively engaging with EU to ensure that concerns of Indian companies and hard-to-abate sectors are adequately addressed under CBAM'
Payments banks have urged the Union finance ministry to increase their deposit limit for each account to Rs 5 lakh, according to a source who participated in a meeting, chaired by the Department of Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju, in New Delhi. At present, they can accept deposits of up to Rs 2 lakh.
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